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Left your tablet on the train? How it finds its way home, and how you prove it is yours

Published 2026-11-14·5 min read·by AYA
Emil is on his way home from training. He is watching a film on his tablet, the train reaches his station, and he hurries off with his bag over his shoulder. The tablet stays on the seat.
It happens more often than you might think. According to DSB, the Danish state railway, it collects about 27,000 forgotten items a year, and about half find their way back to the owner (source: DSB, lost property page, November 2026). That also means the other half do not.
For a tablet the problem is simple. It does not have your name on the back. Whoever finds it does not know who to tell, and a locked screen does not help.

A mark with two jobs

The security mark with AYA register is a small 50 x 25 mm QR sticker that you put on the back of the device. It has two jobs.
The first is to get the device home. When someone finds the tablet, they scan the mark with their phone camera and reach a page where they can contact you.
The second is to show that the device is yours. When you activate the mark, you enter the device's serial number or IMEI, and the device goes into the AYA register. It is a public lookup register where anyone can look up a number and see whether the device is owner-marked.

How the tablet gets home

  1. The finder scans the mark with their phone camera. No app or account is needed.
  2. The finder sees what has been found, for example "the owner's tablet", and a link to the AYA register, where the device is listed as owner-marked.
  3. The finder can share the place with one tap, call you or send a message with a photo.
  4. You are notified right away with place and time, as a notification and by email.
The finder never sees your phone number. You do not write a name on the mark either: it is named after the device, for example "Mac" or "tablet", and you can give it another name in the app yourself.

The register, when the mark has been peeled off

A QR sticker can be peeled off. That is why the register is there. Even without the mark, anyone can look up the device's number in the AYA register, see that it is owner-marked and send you an anonymous message.
That makes the register useful in more situations than the forgotten tablet:
  • When you buy something used. Look up the serial number before you pay. If the device is listed as owner-marked, you can write to the owner and ask whether the sale is in order.
  • When an honest finder has not seen the mark. A serial number is often in the settings or on the box, and it can be looked up anywhere in the world.
  • When you need to prove ownership. The registration is your proof that the device was yours.
The register never shows your name, phone number, email or address. Neither the person looking it up nor you see the other's identity. A lookup only gives a match when the whole number is right, so nobody can guess their way in with part of a number.

When the device changes owner

If you sell the tablet or pass it on, the mark can be transferred to the new owner in the app. The remaining time and the registered device ID go with it, and the change of owner costs nothing. Device type and serial number are locked while the device is in the register, so nobody can write a different number onto your mark.

Get started

  1. Put the mark on the device and scan it with your phone camera.
  2. Choose the device type and enter the device's unique number (serial number or IMEI).
  3. Add an email if your account does not have one, and activate the mark.
The device is in the AYA register as soon as the mark is active. Registration is included in the price.

12 months or lifetime

When you buy it, you choose 12 months, where the first year is included in the price and the mark can then be renewed once a year, or lifetime, where you pay once. The current price in your currency is on the product page.

For things without a serial number

The mark with register is for things with their own number: phone, tablet, computer and bike. For passports, bags and other things without a serial number there is the security mark without register. Suitcases and keys have their own products: the luggage tag and AYA Keychain.
The next time a tablet is left on a seat, it does not have to end up in the pile of things nobody knows the owner of. A mark on the back and a number in the register are enough for the person who finds it to send it home.

Questions about the security mark with AYA register

What can others see in the AYA register?

Only that the device is owner-marked and that they can write anonymously to the owner. The register never shows a name, phone number, email or address.

Which things is the mark for?

Things with their own serial number or IMEI, such as a phone, tablet, computer or bike. For things without a serial number there is the security mark without register.

Does it cost extra to be in the register?

No. Registration is included in the price of the mark, and a change of owner costs nothing either.

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